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are vortec heads any good?

I'm looking to build a 355 engine that will be driven almost daily but I still want it to make good power for the stoplight showdowns withe the rice burners in my neighborhood. So far I got it machined and assembled with trw flat top pistons and stuff. I just need some heads and a cam I've heard some things about the vortec heads but was wondering if anyone has them or what they think would be a good set of heads that are fairly inexpensive any help would be appreciated.

Vorted heads are great for the money right out of the box. Buy them from our web sponsor SDPC. (click on SDPC2000 above) They have the best prices, anyway. Serach on Vortec and they will come up. About $210 each...

Assuming you are using a carb or TBI for induction, the Vortecs would be a great choice due to the availability of several different carb intakes to work w/ them (and TBI could use those plus a TBI adapter.) If you were intending to use TPI then you have a problem as the TPI baseplate to fit Vortecs is not available yet. You'll either need to wait for the intake to become available or choose a different head if that is the case.

Something to thinik about, you may already be aware of it: -Stock Vortec heads come w/ valve springs that are good to .470ish lift, anything above is pushing it (the actual rating from GM is .450, but even they run more than that on the 330hp Vortec crate motor). At around .480-.490 or so you could also run into clearance probs between the retainers and the valve guide bosses. If you are planning to run around .470" lift or under on the cam you're just fine w/ the out of box Vortecs. If you want a little more lift, or are going to be borderline and would like to play it safe, Scoggin Dickey also sells some premodded Vortecs that are good to around .550 on the lift (I forget the exact number). That includes springs to handle it and the clearancing required for that much lift. The price was around $570 or so for the pair premodded last I saw.

Just for reference I have the box stock Vortecs, and am running a CompCams 262 cam (218/224 duration @.050, lift of .462/.469) and am pretty happy w/ it. I'm running a Performer RPM intake and a 750 holley, w/ a good HEI distrib, headers, rebuilt 700r4 w/ 2200-2400 rpm stall converter w/ 3.42 gears. All around it is a very pleasant street car. Its my daily driver and I have no complaints w/ the setup. Very happy w/ the Vortecs.

I just built myself a 355 daily driver motor. It still being broke in so i havent really got on it yet, but its definatly more peppy than my old 250hp 305 i had in there.

There are several articles in carcraft, camaro performance and chevy hi performance that i've read about their own vortec buildups. all 3 magazines got 370-420hp from those heads and a well match cam, on stock bottom end parts. (9.5:1 comp)
all 3 were carbed (750 holly or dominator). I havent heard from anyone who tryed that setup with FI.
Vortec seems to like carbs though, i heard a story about one guy who converted his truck 350 to carbed and gained 50hp with that conversion alone.
I dont know, anyone with FI finding similar hp numbers with these heads?

The Vortecs use a different 8 bolt intake manifold pattern rather than the usual 12 bolt pattern, so you have to use a Vortec specific manifold. I haven't heard of an FI version yet. The Vortec's are a good inexpensive way to HP. I've seen 374 HP on a stock 350 with an Edelbrock Vortec Performer RPM intake, and a Comp Cams XE268 with 224int/230exh at .050, .470/.480 lift and 110 lobe separation.